Dystopia, USA?

Welcome to Our New Dark Ages. A time of magical thinking where the Earth is flat again, morality is situational, and facts don’t matter.

The original Dark Ages followed the collapse of the Roman Empire, which stabilized much of what Europeans considered the civilized world at the time. 

Our New Dark Ages follows the apparent collapse of the American Empire, which has brought stability to what we euphemistically call the free world.

ChatGPT, the latter-day Oracle at Delphi, tells us the original Dark Ages saw an emergence of tribalism, a breakdown of trade, a decline in literacy and the stagnation of scientific curiosity. The New York Times, America’s contemporary journal of record, reports the same trends are occurring today. 

The original Dark Ages lasted for around five centuries. And it took another three centuries of transition before the start of the Renaissance, when the intellectual ice age began to thaw and critical thinking became fashionable again.

It’s too soon to tell whether Our New Dark Ages will endure as a definable epoch of civilization in decline, or turn out to be an aberration in the arc of history which bends towards progress. 

Donald Trump may turn out to be just another MAGAlomaniac who creates chaos in the short term. Or the vanguard of a more cynical movement that drives humanity further into the shadows of another prolonged decline.

Fight or forget

Because the anxiety of not knowing is exhausting, as are efforts to combat his authoritarian tendencies, it’s tempting to tune out, if only for a while, and hope he will go away like a seasonal allergy.

To cope with the uncertainty of it all, it’s tantalizing to just live in the moment: 

• Forget history, because it’s too inconvenient, with its lessons that warn us of past mistakes;
• Forget the future, where predictable consequences of repeating past mistakes is such a downer; and
• Succumb to myopic self-indulgence instead, so you won’t drive yourself crazy with regret and stress for caring about our legacies and children.

But what if the moment goes into overtime?

What if we become like the proverbial frog in a pot on the stove who gets comfortable when the water temperature is tepid and doesn’t pay attention as it gradually rises to a boil?

What if our collective will to resist what we know is wrong were to become so drained by not exercising it that it atrophies?

If that’s the case, the New Dark Ages may last until Hell freezes over.